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Lesson01
Articles English has the words "the", "a'" and "'an". These words are called "articles" and are used to refer to concepts which are specific (the, which is definite) or general (a and an, which are indefinite). *''A man. The man. A group of men. The men.'' Some languages will have one but not the other. Some languages have neither. Northumbrian has both, and the rules are slightly simpler than in English. The The Northumbrian word for "the" is also the (pronounced more like "theh" instead of how we pronounce it "thuh") and it almost exactly like in English. The only difference is that it is also used before the names of seasons, days of the week, many nouns, diseases, trades, occupations, sciences and academic subjects. It is also often used in place of the indefinite article and instead of a possessive pronoun: the hairst (autumn), the Wadensday (Wednesday), awa tae the kirk (off to church), the nou (at the moment), the day (today), the haingles (influenza), the Laitin (Latin), The deuk ett the bit breid (The duck ate a piece of bread), the wife (my wife) etc. *Northumbrian : The hoond. The tree. The waal. *English: The dog. The tree. The wall. A The Northumbrian word for "a'" and "'an" is simply "a'". *Northumbrian: ''The hoos. A ackrun. The loanin an a tree. *English: The house. An acorn. The lane and a tree. Am, Is, are, was, were Pronouns Words like "he" and "she" are pronouns. The Scottish system has a few differences over English, as you will see below: * 'Aw, Aa'1 I'' * '''me, uz'2 me * 'ma, mee'3 my * 'thoo, ye'4 singular "you" * '''he he * hees his * she she * hor her * him him * hit, it'5 ''it * 'wu'6 we * 'huz, wu'7 us * '''thae they * thame them * thor their * yees'8 ''plural "you" * 'yer'9 your The most recognizable difference is the distinction between singular and plural "you". English used to have the same distinction; it used "thou" for singular "you" and "ye" for plural "you". However, "thou" fell into disuse, and "ye" took its place and became modern "you". "Yees" would be used in a sentence such as, "a lou10 yees", which translates to, "I love you all". "Ye" would be used in all other cases, like "Whee'r ye?", meaning "Who are you?" Northumbrian: *''Hoo ir ye?'' *''Hoo ir yees?'' English: *''How are you?'' (Friendly) *''How are you?'' (More than one person) or How are you all? or How are all of you? Prepositions Prepositions, like the name suggests, describe positions and the relationships between things. Some language courses choose to describe these in more advanced lessons, but it's difficult to form sentences without them. Here we will introduce a few basic prepositions, but we will discuss them in greater depth in a future lesson. * '''amaang among * i, iv in * on'1 ''on (as in ''I put my books '''on my desk'') * unner under (very similar to the English word) * ahint'2 ''behind * '''atween between * wi with * neest te'3 ''next to * '''forby besides The number of sentences which you can now build with a minimal vocabulary has increased dramatically. *Northumbrian: Wu'r i the hoos. *English: We are in the house. *1: Also "ontae". *2: Also "aback" or "hinder". Vocabulary list This is a vocabulary list. Some of these words have appeared previously in this lesson and some are new. * apple ''apple'' * tree tree * duwr door * eat eat, to eat * hair hair, a small portion * durg, joogle, hoond'1 ''dog * 'cote'2 cat * 'meat'3 food * 'lassie'4 girl * '''knaa, ken know * moos mouse * hoos house * kirk church * waal wall * fwoak people * reed red * tung language * laddie'5 ''boy * '''son son * bairn child * teuth ''tooth'' * oppen open * sit sit, to sit * sleep sleep, to sleep * the toon town * chyre chair * bleck black * tyeble'6 ''table * 'hackit'7 ugly * 'loanin'8 field, paddock, lane * '''bide to reside, live at, lodge, stay * staan stand * ben inside, in Practice Translate these sentences into English. * Ye'r John. * The hoos is reed. * She bides i the toon. * The lassie wi bleck hair. * The durg sleeps unner a tree. * Whan duwrs staan oppen, joogles cum ben * Aa sit on the chyre neest te the tyeble. * Yees ir ahint the duwr i the waal. Translate these sentences into Northumbrian. * I am Jack. * It is under the table. * The door is in the red wall. * The mouse lives under the house. * A dog is sleeping behind the chair. * The tree is in the field. * The boy with food. * You eat an apple. Answers Answers to the above exercises. * You are John. * The house is red. * She lives in the city. * The girl with black hair. * The dog sleeps/is sleeping under a tree. * The cat eats/is eating the food. * I sit/am sitting on the chair next to the table. * You are behind the door in the wall. * Aa's Jack. * Hit is unner the tyeble. * The duwr is i the reed waal. * The moos bides unner the hoos. * A durg sleeps ahint the chyre. * The tree is i the loanin. * The laddie wi the meat. * Ye eat a apple. End of lesson one That concludes the very first Northumbrian lesson, and by now you should already be able to form simple sentences. Use the vocabulary you have learned to form your own sentences! <>